The Conservative plot to cancel Surrey's elections
The Surrey Conservatives are trying to seize the opportunity to use English Devolution as an excuse to cancel this year’s May elections.
5 Jan 2025
Runnymede Liberal Democrats
Working Hard for Runnymede All Year Round
Local News
Runnymede Finances Update
Following the formation of the new Alliance leadership in May 2024 we are pleased to announce that the Non Statutory – Best Value Notice, issued by the Government in December 2023, has now been lifted.
30 Dec 2024
Runnymede Council's £2.5 Million Energy Efficiency Drive
Runnymede Borough Council is pleased to announce the start of a £2.5 million energy efficiency initiative targeting over 160 council-owned homes.
29 Nov 2024
Meet Your Local Lib Dem Candidate for Ottershaw
Hello! I'm Ronan McCaughey, and like many of you, I fell in love with our wonderful Ottershaw community when I moved here 10 years ago.
21 Nov 2024
Time for root and branch House of Lords reform
This week’s vote on the Bill to remove the remaining 92 hereditary peers from the House of Lords is a step in the right direction. But we need to go further.
12 Nov 2024
The future of The Rose and Olive Branch pub hangs in the balance
Virginia Water Councillor Karin Rowsell is expressing support for the Rose and Olive Branch to continue as a pub after its current tenants finish trading this Christmas.
7 Nov 2024
Surrey County Council News
A Wasted Opportunity?
The issue of waste remains high on the agenda in Surrey, with not one but two draft waste plans up for discussion. The first, which ended its 6 week period of public consultation in December 2005, comes from the position of Surrey County Council (SCC) as the Waste Planning Authority (WPA) and is called "The Surrey Waste Plan - The Preferred Plan". This basically sets out the County's overall strategy of where and how waste should be handled, giving site specific details. The Liberal Democrats at County Hall criticised this plan as being fundamentally flawed, back in September, because it was predicated on incineration and highlighted a preferred site, Capel. We are still awaiting the results of the public consultation.
3 Feb 2006
Surrey's roads set to get worse
Surrey County Council has outsourced its highways maintenance to two contractors, one for the west and one for the east. Since its start 3 years ago the management of this Tory-inspired arrangement has been heavily criticised, with work not being done on time or to budget. Lib Dems are seeking to ensure that these issues are addressed by beefing up the management of the contract and ensuring that its performance indicator criteria deliver on-time and on-budget results. We are very concerned that yet another Tory reorganisation of the transportation service (proposed in the Business Delivery Review) will damage the county's ability to manage the contractors. Also proposed in the BDR is a cut in the maintenance budget to spend more on capital. In the short term (5 years) that will mean worse roads in Surrey!
2 Feb 2006
Tories plan to close six libraries
As part of the BDR review ordered by SCC's Tory executive - and endorsed at a council meeting with only the Lib Dems voting against - there are plans to close six libraries in order to ensure that SCC hits government CPA targets for the ones that will remain open.The libraries that are proposed for closure are:
2 Feb 2006
Liberal Democrats Oppose Cuts in Services
At the County Council meeting today the Liberal Democrats opposed proposals to cut services. The proposals were made in a report prepared by consultants for the Business Delivery Review commissioned by the Conservative administration to find £50 million of savings in County Council expenditure. Councillor Hazel Watson, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council said: "This Review was supposed to identify savings without cutting frontline services. Unfortunately it has failed. The proposals include closing 15 youth centres and 6 libraries as well as cutting bus services. On top of this, the proposals drastically reduce the number of highways staff, which is likely to worsen the ability of highways to deal with problems promptly.
24 Jan 2006
Executive decides not to proceed with new County Hall
Surrey County Council's Executive have decided not to proceed with its PFI contract plans to build a new County Hall in Brewery Road, Woking. They announced this last week, but without revealing which other alternative they want to pursue instead. As a result of questions by County Councillor John Doran (Woking, Horsell) at this week's Council meeting it emerged that the Executive have not yet agreed how best to proceed and an announcement about the future should not be expected for some time.
24 Jan 2006
Liberal Democrats call for limit to Minerals Extraction
Hazel Watson, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council, has called for the Council to reduce the level of mineral extraction in the County over the next decade. The County Council's Conservative Executive has determined that the level of minerals extraction should be set at 2.24 million tonnes annually. The Liberal Democrats believe that this is too high.
6 Dec 2005
UK Lib Dem news
Supporting the Future of Music
We are committed to tackling the challenges facing our music industry head-on. By doing so, we can maintain the UK’s reputation as a global leader in music, while giving future generations the chance to share in its success.
LD
16 Sep 2024
International Development
Restoring the UK’s Reputation on the World Stage
The Liberal Democrats are committed to rebuilding the trust and compassion that the UK was once known for. We believe that our country has a responsibility to support those in need, no matter where they are in the world.
LD
16 Sep 2024
Home Affairs
Fixing Our Broken Prison System
For too long, years of neglect and mismanagement by the previous Conservative Government have pushed our prison system into a deep crisis.
LD
16 Sep 2024